Unpriestly Concern for Kith & Kin
Second Meditation - Evils Inherent in this Inordinate Concern
I. Harm to the Church.- Is the Church suffering today from the ill-regulated desire of priests to promote the material welfare of their kith and kin? It is hard to say. But that the Church has suffered and suffered grievously in the past, for instance in the sixteenth century, is common knowledge. The sacred Council of Trent assures us with all solemnity that such was the case:
"The sacred Council, with all the severity at Its command, warns bishops to put aside completely all that merely human concern for brothers and sisters, nephews, and blood relations, which has become a hot-bed of many evils within the Church. And what is said to bishops is decreed not only for its observance by those obtaining possession of any ecclesiastical benefice, both regular and secular, each in his own sphere, but equally for the Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church." -(Session xxv, I de Reformat.)A "hot-bed of many evils within the Church" - why did not the Council enumerate them? They were there for everyone to see! . . .
Hence that contempt and hatred of the Church, of a Church reduced, in the eyes of Her enemies, to a mere political faction bent on robbing the nation and rifling the national Treasury for Her own selfish interests and those of Her "hangers-on"; hence that vilification of the clergy, when the latter appear desirous of sordid gain even amid the divinest works of the priestly ministry; hence that mistrust of a priest's intentions and even of his faith, and the wholesale squandering of a priest's time and possessions which belong exclusively to God, to the poor, and to souls.
O Jesus, Master of my heart, couldst Thou not whisper to my inmost conscience, like an annoying but true refrain of a song, that complaint which the Council of Trent so sorrowfully voiced to the whole Church:
"Multorum malorum seminarium exstat in hoc tuo humano affectu erga propinquos tuos"?If this unruly craving is buried in my heart, tear it out, O Lord, tear it out, even if my heart should break under the strain!
II. Harm to one's own relatives.- Experience has taught us time and again that the wealth inherited or received as a gift from clerics does far more harm than good to its possessors. It is put to as little profit as, and even less than, big sums from a national sweepstake. Somehow or other it seems to be riddled with the curse of God and brings only misfortune. No wonder there is the old Irish saying: "The priest's money is never lucky" - economic disaster and moral harm in such cases have coined the phrase.
Many souls have become estranged from God on account of the moneys they received from a priest relation. Many a family has abandoned the Church and the way of salvation. There are nephews and nieces and other relations who indulge in an easygoing and idle life, even in a life of vicious habits, on the score that their priest brother or uncle is stinting himself on their behalf and scraping together every penny for love of them.
What does it matter if he is nearly killing himself in the process? What concern is it of theirs that he is depriving himself of a decent maintenance? Their path is clear: the money is rolling in, and they're going to spend it, as long as it lasts, on what they like.
But - for the subsidies - of that poor, anxious cleric, they would have to earn their dajly bread like any other honest man, and theirs would be that virtue and noble peace which flows from hard-won self-support. But why go to all the trouble if it is their good fortune to have a priest breadwinner to slave for them? Why not drink from the ever-flowing fountain?
Now, has any priest the duty to sacrifice himself so stupidly for kith and kin? Does my conscience reproach me before God?
III. Harm to the priest himself. - Untold harm will come to myself. I shall discharge my ministerial duties badly, because all my energies will be undermined or frittered away or crushed out of me through endless worrying about my people's temporal affairs.
I shall expose myself defenceless to the temptation of wanting to be wealthy - with all the trail of dangers and ruinous consequences that follow from this desire.
"Those who would be rich fall into temptation: the devil's trap for them";And the Apostle adds:
"all those useless and dangerous appetites which sink men into ruin here and perdition hereafter." (1 Tim. vi, 9)
"The love of money is a root from which every kind of evil springs, and there are those who have wandered away from the faith by making it their ambition, involving themselves in a world of sorrows." (10.)Once this desire for wealth takes hold of a priest, Church possessions are not safe in his hands: he will not administer them efficiently, he will even squander them; he will offend against common justice by demanding dues dictated by his own insatiable greed instead of lawful custom and diocesan regulations; with the result that both the priest and his heirs will incur the obligation of making restitution for ill-gotten goods. What a legacy for a priest to leave behind!
And yet the priest should, above all other men, be deeply conscious of St. Paul's bald philosophical statement:
"Empty-handed we came into the world, and empty-handed, beyond question, we must leave it; why then, if we have food and clothing to last us out, let us be content with that." (l Tim. vi, 7-8)The priest cannot argue that he is saving up to leave something for others to inherit: that argument would be valid coming from the father of a family, not from the priest. Since God has been pleased to spare us priests that anxiety, why be so foolish as to go looking for it?
IV. If we priests burden ourselves with excessive concern for the temporal advancement of relatives and friends we come under the reproach voiced by the Scriptures:
"Here is one that works alone, partner nor son nor brother to aid him, yet still works on, never content with his bright hoard, never asking, as he toils and stints himself, who shall gain by it. Frustration and lost labour, here too." (Eccles. iv, 8)If we haven't the courage to practise absolute renunciation of this world's goods, at least let us have the sense to live at ease, enjoying the emoluments of our labours, free from useless cares. While God may never allow your dreams of leaving your relatives well endowed, of pushing them into a social position above them, or of pulling them out of tight corners, to materialise, He will not refuse you the little you need for your honest keep.
And if all this doesn't convince you, let us learn from the misfortunes which have overwhelmed so many unwary priests in the past.
There are cases of priests who were literally besieged and ransacked by the exorbitant demands of relatives, who thought they had a right to everything when it came to a priest of their own kith and kin; and with implacable cruelty they left him almost penniless.
There are instances where decrepit old parish priests had to go to their bishops and ask them on bended knees to remove them from the parish and give them some out-of-the-way chaplaincy to a convent or institution, so as to be free of their relatives' extortionate demands.
The poor old priest has perhaps been saving up money year after year, has deposited it in his nephew's name, and is then treated like a beggar by the very people he stinted himself for.
Or take the case of a priest who boasted of having been cute enough to keep his last illness a secret from his sister and niece so that at least he might be allowed to die in peace.
What he feared to witness actually came about immediately after his death: they sacked the presbytery like a pair of highway robbers.
By what priestly title should I be obliged to undergo such tortures?
Resolutions
In my dealings with my relations I shall govern myself by the following rules based on justice and the Canon Law:
1. For the sake of their souls, I will love my relations as Christ would have me love them, taking care to keep them in the holy fear of God and sound morals. What a scandal it is when the priest's own relations are not even good-living Christians, especially if they live with him! In more than one parish, the priest's niece, and even his parents, have been the chief stumbling block to Christian faith and morals.
2. As regards temporal goods there are three points to consider:
(a) what the priest ought not to do;
(b) what he is not obliged to do; and
(c) what he is lawfully permitted to do.
(a) What the priest ought not to do: He ought not to give to his relations the funds belonging to the Church or to pious foundations, or sell to them the immovable goods of the Church. See Canon 1540. He should not hand over to them any "surplus" income from benefice goods, taking the latter in the strict sense; a breach of this kind would not be an injustice (cfr. Canon 1473), but it would be against the virtue of religion.
I shall bear in mind the very serious warning of the Council of Trent:
"The Council absolutely forbids clerics to attempt to enrich their blood-relations and the members of their household with Church revenues, or to make them a gift of ecclesiastical belongings, whose Owner is God; but if their blood-relations and household members be poor, they should be helped like other poor people out of those same goods; these goods should not on, their account be made available indiscriminately." (Sess. xxv, cap. 1, de Reformat.)(b) What the priest is not obliged to do. - Apart from my parents - whom I must venerate and help by the same titles of justice as any other son - to whom I, as a priest, should attend and for whom I should care, if anything, better than other children, with the knowledge that God, far from holding it against me, will reward me for this greater care; apart from my parents, I have, as a general rule, no obligation to look after the temporal welfare of other members of my family, neither brothers and sisters nor (still less) nieces and nephews; just as a married man has no obligation, usually, towards the temporal welfare of his brothers and sisters, though they be poorer than he.
Why should more be required of me because I am a priest? Is it because my studies cost more? In order to become a priest, did I get more than my share of the family budget, at the expense of my brothers and sisters? If needs be, I shall repay in cash what I owe to them, as far as I can; and I shall be quit of further obligations.
(c) What the priest is lawfully permitted to do. - I am permitted, by right of justice, to dispose of my nonbenefice income in favour of my relations or anyone else I please, whether this income falls to me as the portion of my inheritance or I earn it myself, even by my priestly work; for instance, preaching, stole fees, etc.; on condition that they do not constitute benefice goods in the strict sense of the word. But while keeping within the limits of what I can dispose of lawfully, I shall not forget that I am a priest and that my first household is the Church, my chief relations, the poor.
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Adapted from The Priest at Prayer
by Fr. Eugenio Escribano, C.M. (© 1954)
Translated by B.T. Buckley, C.M.
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Please pray for our priests and pray for vocations to the priesthood!
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